Ichigo in Wonderland
by Rizu Neko-Chan
Summary: She was simply following Masha into a dark doorway of Cafe Mew Mew when she lost her balance and stumbled into a world of a tall, blonde hatter, a snobby, cruel Queen, a cat who's cocky smirk is driving her insane, and more. -Implied Ichigo love triangle-
1. Through the Door

(A.N./ Here lies a story that proves that inspiration comes from random things, at any time, anywhere. I have no clue where this one came from. I did some research, and no one has done a Tokyo Mew Mew and Alice in Wonderland combination, although it has been done with different animes. I'm releasing this is three parts, since its pretty big for one thing. Without further ado, enjoy!)

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"Ryou, you heartless _slave driver!" _Ichigo growled.

After a hard day's work serving customers, she had found her fate in her boss's hands when he ordered her to clean the floors of the café, dismissing the rest of the employees to their homes. It made her positively angry. So angry, in fact, that she slammed her mop harshly in the bucket (causing it to tip over), and slumped down in the nearest chair to her. She didn't care in the least bit whether she had to clean up the water she spilled, or pick up the mop, she just simply wanted rest.

Letting out a tired sigh, she thought to herself,

_Oh, the things I would give to be rid of this job. But, I guess I can't do much about it, since I have the Mew genes in me, and I need to work at the 'secret base'. _

_Still, though, Ryou has no reason to work me to the bone like this! He lets all of the others go, but not me, oh no, I have to mop the entire floor…_

"Just talking about it makes me sleepy…" she said quietly to herself. Resting her head gently on her arm which was laid on the table, she allowed her eyelids to flutter shut.

_I'll just rest my eyes a bit…_

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind did she hear a shrill cry above her head,

"Ichigo, Ichigo!" She lifted her head up slowly and blinked a couple times to get in focus to the world around her. She then looked around to see Masha flying around in panicked circles,

"Ichigo! Hurry! Hurry!"

"What is it, Masha?" Ichigo asked curiously. However, Masha continued with his alarm as if he didn't hear her,

"Hurry! Hurry!" Ichigo made a reach to grab him out of the air above her, but he was too quick and dodged. Flying over to what Ichigo identified as the basement door of the café, the little robot continued,

"Ichigo! Hurry! Ichigo!" Ichigo got up from the table and stretched drowsily. She wandered over to where Masha was indicating and hesitantly opened the door. She was about to step inside when she must have tripped, for she fell forward instantly. She let out a scream, expecting to tumble down the stairs, but she felt nothing. Opening an eye hesitantly, she saw she was actually falling down a rather large hole, both sides of it lines with shelves. She opened both eyes now, scanning the walls around her with curiosity.

The shelves were all lines with various cakes, tarts, and parfaits. Their colorful berries and frostings stood out against the dirt, brown walls and brown oak shelves. Still awaiting some kind of fall, Ichigo decided to amuse herself by reaching out and snatching a passing cake off the shelf.

She examined her catch to see she had grabbed a blackberry tart situated on a decorative little china plate, and a small fork laid delicately on the side. Definitely not her favorite dessert. She stuck her tongue out and, setting the cake on her lap, (which was still drifting in the rushing air) she grabbed for a second treat on a passing shelf.

This time, when she examined it, she found it was a strawberry parfait in a small, glass dish, with a small spoon stick into it. Bright, red, juicy strawberries decorated the sides of the parfait. Layers of berry crème, vanilla cake, and ice crème made up the most of the dessert, and a small dollop of whipped crème placed lightly on top. She smiled in delight.

_Mmm, delicious, _she thought to herself. She lifted the spoon and was about to take a bite before she landed in a chair.

Ichigo looked around in curiosity at the room around her, all the while wondering why she didn't die on impact.

The room she was in was fashioned like Café Mew Mew, the light pink wallpaper and heart-shaped trimming were decorating the walls, and the brown, polished floorboards strangely similar to the ones Ichigo just cleaned were laid on the floor.

She was also sitting in one of the white-and-red decorated chairs that were exclusive to Café Mew Mew. Before her stood the matching table.

Ichigo set the tart and parfait before her on the table. Getting up from the chair, she resolved to have a look around the strange place.

The entire room was fashioned in a similar circular shape to the café, except she saw no doors and no windows.

_Spooky,_ she thought as she looked around. She was suddenly surprised by a cry of,

"Ichigo! Hurry!" Ichigo, once again, found Masha flying around her head in small circles.

"Masha!" she exclaimed. She tried, once again, to catch him out of the air, but he just wouldn't stay still long enough for Ichigo to take a good aim at him. Flying over to the other side of the room, Ichigo noticed a small, six-inch door. She was sure it wasn't there before.

Masha opened the small door with his tail and flew in, having no trouble fitting through the door. Ichigo walked over and got down on hands and knees, examining the small door to find it shut. She tried turning the knob, but it was locked.

Furrowing her brow, Ichigo got back up and sat down in the chair that she arrived in. She looked before her to see the uneaten strawberry parfait.

_Well, _she decided, picking up the spoon, _Dessert is supposed to help you think. It calms your nerves, I guess…_

She took off a small bite from the parfait and ate it. The taste was wonderful, like a fluffy cloud of strawberries and crème. Ichigo closed her eyes, enjoying the flavor to its full extent, and smiling contentedly. She opened them, however, to find that she was not at all in the same place she was before. In fact, she barely recognized her surroundings if it wasn't for the fact that she recognized the wallpaper. Her surroundings hadn't changed, she had!

She looked down to see that the chair and table she used to be seated at were small, like doll furniture to her, and her head was scraping up against the ceiling. She bent over and looked down to see the floor.

_I must be twenty feet tall by now! And I can't transform, I left my pendant in my bag back at the café! I How am I ever going to get out now…? _she said to herself sorrowfully. She hugged her knees and buried her face in them.

Slowly, one by one, tears began to slide down her face and drip off her chin. Light sobs escaped her and gasps for air as more tears were falling by the second.

It was what seemed like half an hour before Ichigo finally lifted her head and dried her face. She came to the realization that she was, in fact, sitting in a small pool formed from her tears! She had filled the whole room about a foot deep, in her perspective. She was now more astonished than sad, all the more so when she spied something in the corner of her eye.

A small, brown mouse was rowing through the lake she had created, seated in a little black umbrella, and making full use of his paws to paddle. She looked at it strangely before realizing that the object of her interest was trying to get her attention,

"Oi! You there! Old hag!" She blinked and stared at it strangely.

_A talking mouse? That's weird. But, I suppose everything else that is happening today is weird also._ She retorted with a scowl,

"I'm _not_ an old hag!" The mouse rolled its strangely-colored amber eyes,

"Look, if your going to flood the room, at least let it drain through the door, idiot." Ichigo buried her face in her knees, reminded once again of her failure with the door.

"I can't fit through that small door." she said meekly. The impudent mouse, once again, rolled its small eyes,

"Just eat the blackberry tart before you soak that through as well." Ichigo was about to ask why, but, appealing to her better judgment, picked up the small fork and took a bite from the tart that well could have been the whole pastry itself. Popping it in her mouth, she felt herself shrinking smaller and smaller, until she landed on top of the chair. Taking a step, she realized she was on all fours,

"Nya?! I've turned into a cat!" she cried. The mouse grimaced and continued to paddle onward. Ichigo wasn't about to let it go,

"Wait, Mr. Mouse!" The mouse turned its head, and Ichigo continued, "Can you tell me how to get out of this room?"

Even from a distance, Ichigo could make out the mouse rolling its eyes, the simple action proving itself as the mouse's favorite pastime,

"The fork is the key. Stupid hag." It noted the last little insult before continuing his paddling. Ichigo ignored the remark and gripped the fork she had dropped on the chair next to her with her mouth. She leaned over the edge of the chair, preparing to dive.

_Here goes nothing, _she said to herself. She jumped and splashed into the water. She immediately regretted doing so, though, because it caused the most uncomfortable feeling in her suffering black fur. She groaned through her teeth and paddled her way to the small door, trailing at a distance from the small, brown mouse.

After a few minutes of tiring maneuvering through the salty lake, Ichigo was at the small door, the little brown mouse waiting for her impatiently,

"Hand me the key." it said with an irritated tone. Ichigo lifted her face up to the mouse and it took it from her mouth with a disgusted face,

"You have terrible breath." Ichigo scowled and considered actually taking a good bite out of the foul-mouthed beast, before she remembered that she didn't care for her meat raw.

The mouse dipped its arm into the water and fidgeted underneath. Ichigo guessed that he was trying to fit the fork into the lock.

After several moments, though, he managed to unlock the door, and the water flooded out past the two creatures, sending them both down the current of tears.

"Nyaaa!" Ichigo cried as she came out the door in the flood of water. She found herself coming into contact with a tree head-first, managing to wedge her small head and shoulder span between some branches. The rest of her cat body hung limply out the tree after the current of water receded. She pushed and pulled either direction, but she couldn't manage to get herself out of this particular predicament.

Soon enough, she heard voices outside the tree,

"What is it?"

"Some kind of garden ornament?"

"It has a tail with a bell."

"Mommy, can I ring it?"

"I wanna touch its foot!"

Ichigo felt light tickling on her feet and tail. Unable to control herself, she kicked her feet this way and that, letting out desperate 'nya's here and there. Small gasps and murmurs of surprise were heard from the unidentified crowd outside. One of them shouted,

"Grab the tail; pull with all your might!" Ichigo protested to that idea, and soon made it known by struggling terribly to get out of that tree. However, the gathering stood fast and managed to get a hold of her tail and pull. She screeched in the sharp pain from her tail as she felt herself being yanked out of the tree.

"One! Two! Three! PULL!"

She tumbled out of the tree, backside first, onto the wet, grassy ground beneath her. Turning over and getting up on her feet, the crowd gasped,

"I-it's a cat!"

"Run!"

"Get out of here!"

The small crowd of what Ichigo saw was various animals were running in all different directions, all of them leading away from her. She looked around desperately and began to chase a crowd of frightened birds,

"Wait up! I won't hurt, you really! I just need you to tell me where I-"

Before she could finish, the flock of small birds twittered angrily and took flight, leaving Ichigo skidding to a stop. Gazing up in the sky, she called after them,

"Wait!"

Her efforts were in vain, though, because, even if they really had heard her, they weren't about to stop to get 'eaten'.

Ichigo sighed and looked around her. She saw that, in her chase of the birds, she had followed them into an unfamiliar forest-like place. Quite lost, she wandered around a bit before she heard the familiar small alarm,

"Ichigo! Ichigo!" Ichigo called,

"Masha!" The little robot flew over to her left,

"Ichigo, the house! The house!" Ichigo turned to look, and, sure enough, there was a little, snug cottage seated a ways back into the woods. She turned,

"What about the house, Masha?"

Only, Masha wasn't there.

Ichigo sighed and decided that Masha must be alarmed by _something_ in that house, and, being lost and all, she had nothing better to do.

Coming to the house, she stepped onto the small porch and knocked the door. No answer came. Feeling a little like Goldilocks, she walked inside the little cottage, expecting to see a table with three bowls of porridge.

Instead, though, she saw a cozy little room, with calming, floral wallpaper and a small, warm-looking bed seated in the corner, with a nightstand next to it. A rug was laid on the floor neatly, and a fireplace was crackling on the dying embers on the south wall.

Separated from the homey room was a small kitchen, with all of the necessary appliances and tools an individual would need. A small bathroom was off to a side, also separated by a wall.

"What a quaint little house…" Ichigo said to herself. She walked slowly through the room, taking in her surroundings. She was about to lay in front of the dying heat of the fire to dry off the remainder of her wet fur when she noticed something seated on top of the nightstand next to the bed. It was a small, orange crème soda, with a small bit of whipped crème on top. Ichigo walked over to it, observing how delicious it looked,

_Well, I can't let it go stale, now can I?_ she said to herself. She put her mouth to the straw poking out and began to drink.

No sooner than she did she felt herself growing bigger. She lifted her mouth from the straw and looked at her paws, which were beginning to grow into human hands.

_Uh boy,_ she thought to herself as she grew larger and larger. She had to crouch down to avoid having her neck break under pressure of the ceiling. Now back on hands and knees, she found herself sticking one hand out an open window to avoid it being smashed against the wall. In the same manner, she found a foot had to be shoved out the opposite window.

"Great…" she muttered, "How _do_ I manage to get myself into these kind of situations so easily?"

While trying to think up and easy solution, her ears happened to catch the sound of pattering feet and a hurried conversation,

"Yota! Quick, get a ladder! Try to get through the chimney!"

"Right."

The next noise she heard was metal clanging and scurrying of claws on what sounded to be the ladder they spoke of. Ichigo ran their rushed conversation through their head again before yelling,

"Wait! Don't go through the chimney! It's-"

Before she could finish, she heard scurrying of feet in the chimney behind her, soon following was a yelp and a high-pitched screech, carrying on out the top of the chimney.

Ichigo winced as she knew that this "Yota" character has just had his bottom meet with the hot cinders in the fireplace. She soon heard more scurrying of feet and conversation,

"We'll have to burn the house down at this rate, Sir Masaya!"

"No, I have a better solution." the "Masaya" person replied. Ichigo mused at the sound of his voice. It sounded so calm and peaceful, yet so familiar somehow. She liked it very much.

A few moments later she felt something in her hand. She clenched her fist and felt a small hand retract itself from her grasp. Apparently, Yota still had his hand in place when Ichigo had closed it, judging by the familiar high-pitched squeal. She brought her hand as close to herself as she could, and opened it to reveal a small, plain, brown cake, now a bit squished from its journey in Ichigo's hand. Judging by her past experiences with cakes, she made no hesitation to pop the cake into her mouth. Sure enough, she began to grow smaller and smaller.

Soon after, she, once again, found herself on all fours.

"Great." she muttered.

She dashed out of the house to come face-to-face with her saviors, Yota and Masaya. Yota was a small, green lizard with big eyes and a long tail, small purple spots dotting his scales, he had a slight hunch to him, and was shivering nervously.

Masaya, however, looked more human. Actually, Ichigo might have said he WAS human, judging by his looks. But he had a pair of black panda ears and tail, and was much smaller than an average human.

Ichigo didn't have much time to stop and stare, though, because soon after her observation a small gathering of animals rushed out of the woods,

"What's all of the commotion?"

Ichigo took that as her cue to leave, considering she probably ruined the interior of that nice cottage.

Giddy from her encounter with the boy that she now labeled as "absolutely adorable", Ichigo wasn't really paying much attention to where on earth she was headed. That's when she ran, head-on, into a huge mushroom.

Sitting up from the ground and rubbing her head with one paw, she looked up at the mushroom cap above her. She then saw small tufts of smoke coming from the top. Curiosity killed the cat, they say, but Ichigo wasn't about to believe it. Getting up on a second mushroom next to it, she reached over to the top and put her paws up, peering over.

On top of the mushroom sat what looked like a young man, or maybe and older teenager. His hair was lavender purple, and he was dressed in Arabian-style clothing. His pants were white and baggy, hanging off the shape of his muscular-looking legs. His vest was patterned with gold designs, also hanging loosely. A simple gold bangle was on the higher part of his arm. A big, thick turban was wrapped around his head, encrusted with a purple jewel.

He was smoking what appeared to be a long pipe. Ichigo mused about what age he was, and whether or not his parents knew he was smoking.

Before she could comment, however, the man turned to her,

"Who…are…you?" he said slowly. He had a very deep, frightening voice that was made for a leader. It was a voice that carried power. Ichigo shrunk back a bit before replying,

"My name is Ichigo and I-"

"I only asked you…who you were…" he interrupted. He smoked his pipe for a few moments and left the conversation dangling in the air. Ichigo was about to interrupt him before he continued, "…I didn't ask you…anything else." Ichigo furrowed her brow,

"As I was saying, could you please tell me how to-"

"Don't interrupt…young one." he said, taking another long whiff of his pipe. Ichigo was getting rather angry,

"Oh, so _I'm_ the one interrupting, now? Is that it? How old are you, should you be smoking a pipe? Calling me young one-"

"There you go…again. Interrupting…" he drawled on.

"I am _not_ interrupting, YOU are! How in the world am I the one interrupt-?"

"You're interrupting….my…thoughts." he said lazily. He smoked his pipe some more while Ichigo tried to calm her nerves as she spoke,

"Anyway, could you please tell me how to get back to my normal size? I don't see any cakes-"

"What…cakes?"

"I said," Ichigo continued patiently, getting used to the interrupting game, "I haven't found any cakes. Cakes tend to make me larger or smaller here-"

"Larger…" he repeated, taking a long smoke before continuing, "…or smaller…" Ichigo nodded, trying to grasp how to communicate with this strange man,

"Yes, that's right, do you-?"

"Why do you want to be…larger…or smaller…" Ichigo sighed,

"Well, it gets frustrating when you're always the wrong height around here, and I'm not even my original size!" Ichigo paused to consider she had actually finished her statement without being interrupted. The queer person lifted the pipe from him and got up from the mushroom. He stepped down and wandered into the tall grass on the west, calling back lazily,

"One side is taller…One side is shorter…"

Then he was gone.

Ichigo lifted herself down from the mushroom and considered his words. What exactly did he mean?

_He makes absolutely no sense. But, of course, nothing is making any sense today. _Ichigo concluded, _But what do I make of what he said?_

_I suppose that he's answering my question, but what was that about sides? What does he mean by that? Sides of the lawn? Sides of the mushroom? Sides of the trees?_ Ichigo was utterly confused.

"Well, the best thing to try, I guess, would be the two mushrooms sitting on either side of the big one, that makes sense…" she said to herself. She walked over to the left and right mushrooms, taking a piece off each. She popped the first one in her mouth. It tasted like, not surprisingly, mushroom.

She waited a few moments. Nothing. She didn't grow any larger OR smaller.

_I must have the riddle wrong; it's not the two mushrooms…_ Ichigo thought. She set down the two pieces of mushroom and walked over to the big mushroom.

"He must mean the two sides of the big one." she said aloud. Chipping off a small piece of each, she took a little bite of the one in her right hand. She felt herself beginning to grow smaller. She quickly ate a chunk of the other one. She felt herself grow larger, and she grew into a human again, and getting bigger. She quickly took a nibble off the one in her right hand and began to shrink to about a foot and a half tall, a comfortable enough size for wandering the land. She realized, however, that she still had her black cat ears and tail attached to her.

"Oh well…" she sighed, "At least I'm a comfortable size and walking on two feet."

With that, she started off into the woods to the east of her.

As she was walking along, she began to wonder,

_I wonder how long I've been down here? An hour or so? No, it has to be longer than that. I wonder what my parents are thinking…I wonder what Ryou is thinking. He probably thinks I ditched him or committed suicide, or something like that._ She giggled at the thought of Ryou's shocked face as he saw the overturned mop bucket and no Ichigo.

She didn't have to navigate long to come across another small house, except this one was larger, more like a home for a very wealthy nobleman. She heard screaming and yelling from the inside, and smelled a strange smell. She couldn't put her finger on what exactly the smell was, but she decided to take a look inside the house, just to make sure the poor residents weren't being robbed or something of the sort. After all, with all the commotion in the house, they very well could be.

Knocking on the door briefly, hearing no answer over the clamor and screaming, Ichigo dared to open the door and step inside.

Once inside, the smell hit her nose like a bullet. Pepper. The pepper was everywhere, on everything, in the cramped room of the spacious house. It was a kitchen, to be exact, in which was a young-looking, lime-green-haired cook with her back turned to a rocking chair. In the rocking chair sat another girl with lavender-colored hair (similar to the smoking man), who looked about five years older than the cook did. She was rocking back and forth rather harshly, with what appeared to be a screaming child on her lap. The cook was throwing various pots and pans behind her in a flurry, after each one yelling,

"Sorry! Sorry! Very sorry, Duchess, m'lady!" The Duchess, wearing a very formal-looking dress, was dodging pots and pans left and right, still managing to keep a cool, calm look on her face, sneeze occasionally, and violently rock the child, who was sneezing.

In fact, the only two people in the room who _weren't _sneezing were the cook, and a cat. Well, actually, it was sort of a cat.

Lying on the floor on the other side of the room was yet another human-animal. This one appeared a little taller and older than Masaya, and he had jet-black cat ears and tail, similar to Ichigo's but he had added cat paws. His hair was a forest green, and his eyes a piercing gold, not unlike real cat eyes. The thing Ichigo seemed to notice about him first was that, for one, he was staring right at her, and secondly, he was wearing a tremendous smirk. For some reason, that smirk of his just made her mad.

She had no idea as to why it made her angry, and why all of these people seemed so familiar, so she chose to ignore him and all of the questions and intercept the Duchess with some kind of conversation, trying her best to be mannerly,

"Excuse me, but why does that cat smirk like that? And why does it look like a human with cat features?" The Duchess turned and looked at her with a blank stare,

"It's a Cheshire-Cat," she sneezed before continuing, "It always does that. And you shouldn't be one to make remarks, seeing as you have a similar appearance."

_Right… _Ichigo thought, _I have cat features too…_

After the Duchess gave her giving her the most frank answer possible, she resumed her rocking of the sneezing and howling baby. Then came another round of pots and pans from the cook,

"Sorry! I'm sorry! Sorry! So very sorry!" Ichigo jumped back in terror,

"Stop it, will you?! You'll hurt the child!" The Duchess sneezed some more and replied,

"It's none of your matter to deal with, now is it, young girl?" Ichigo scowled a bit,

"But what about the baby?" The Duchess gave her another blank stare,

"What about it?"

"You'll…you'll kill it at this rate!"

The Duchess got up from her rocking chair in one sweeping motion of her elegant robes and thrust the child into Ichigo's arms,

"You take care of it then. I will be off to the hunting party with the Queen." with that, she strode out of the room gracefully. Ichigo followed after her, still holding the child,

"Wait! Duchess! You shouldn't…" her voice trailed off as she reached the outside to discover the Duchess's absence. Breathing a sigh of fresh and non-peppered air, she glanced down at the child. She blinked her eyes to make sure they weren't deceiving her when she saw that she wasn't holding the child. Instead, she saw she was holding a small monkey with orange-like fur. She hastily set it down, and the animal ran into the forest ahead, out of sight.

She wondered if that was really the right thing to do. What if the Duchess found out? Actually, she probably wouldn't care all too much, considering how she was handling the child earlier. So she concluded that it was the right thing to let the animal roam free.

Completely immersed in her thoughts, she didn't notice the Cheshire cat in the branches of the tree above her until he let out a little snicker...

--


	2. Strange Characters

(A.N./ Here's the second part!

From here on, some of the elements in the original storyline are modified, for the sake of originality on my part. I've read a few other Alice in Wonderland fics, and a lot of them have it EXACTLY like the book, except for the characters changed. I purposely modified a lot of things. It makes it more interesting and more like my own work. Without further ado, continue!)

(P.S./ I may upload the third part either later today, or tomorrow, depends on how evil I feel at the time.)

--

Completely immersed in her thoughts, she didn't notice the Cheshire cat in the branches of the tree above her until he let out a little snicker.

She blinked and looked up,

"When did you get there, Cheshire cat?" The Cheshire cat resumed his signature smirk,

"I've been here all along." Ichigo frowned,

"Well why didn't you tell me that? Give me some kind of warning, maybe?" The cat just widened his smirk,

"Nah, it's so fun to watch you wander around like that. It's more amusing, ne, kitten?" Ichigo now was beginning to hate that smirk as her face tinted a bright red,

"Who gave you permission to call me that,_ sir?_" she said, hissing like a cat. This time, the Cheshire cat's smirk broke into a grin, showing off his pearl-white fangs,

"I did." Ichigo huffed and decided she was going to try and make some sense out of the only person in this peculiar land that would actually listen to her,

"Listen, could you tell me why I'm here, why the people here seem so familiar, and why nothing makes sense?" The cat cocked his head to one side, once again, wearing his smirk,

"The first two questions I don't know the answer to, you have to figure them out by yourself. The third however, why are you asking _me_ that of all people?" Ichigo was about to correct him and say, 'all animals', but she decided against it and continued,

"Well, because you seem like one of the only relatively sane people I've met here, and you'll actually listen to me." she said matter-of-factly. The Cheshire cat's smirk grew a little wider as he propped his head up with his paws, elbows resting on the tree limb,

"Ah, but I'm not sane, you see. Everyone here is insane. It's…just the way we are." he said, shrugging slightly.

"Well…" Ichigo said, happy to start a real conversation with anybody, "There was that Masaya boy, he was really nice…and handsome…" The Cheshire cat winced slightly at the name and comment following, his smirk momentarily bending to a scowl, but he quickly recovered with another look to Ichigo,

"Actually, you happen to be quite near to some of the most in-sane people living here. The Mad Hatter and the March Hare. Both of them live a small distance in that direction." He waved a paw to his right leisurely. Ichigo nodded,

"Then I guess I won't be going in that direction. Thank you, Cheshire cat."

"Oh, it was no trouble, kitten." Ichigo scowled once again,

"Stop calling me that, it makes me mad." The Cheshire cat just grinned,

"You're so cute when you're angry." With that, he vanished, or, say, began to vanish. Starting from the tail up, he faded into the scenery, ending with his grin, still there until it, too, vanished. Ichigo eyed the spot where he was before continuing the path,

"Well that was strange…I've seen a cat without a grin, but never a grin without a cat…" her thoughts were interrupted when she saw the Cheshire cat, yet again, perched on a tree branch,

"I almost forgot to ask," he said, "What happened to the Duchess's child?"

"It turned into a monkey." Ichigo said casually. She was becoming quite accustomed to strange happenings in this weird place. The cat grinned,

"Thank you, kitten"

He vanished so quickly, this time, that Ichigo's words,

"I told you not-" had barely escaped her lips before he was gone. She sighed, and, against her better judgment, headed in the direction the Cheshire cat had pointed out to be the location of the Mad Hatter and March Hare.

_Oh well, they can't be that bad, can they?_

Weaving her way through the trees on a small, rugged dirt path she had discovered, Ichigo made her way in the direction the Cheshire cat had pointed out. After a few minutes, she came upon a strange house in a clearing amongst the woods. What made it strange was that the house had two giant, brown rabbit ears fashioned on top of its roof.

_This must be the March Hare's home, judging by the ears…_ Ichigo said to herself, scowling at her own stupidity, _Of course, idiot._

As she got closer, she noticed that, in the front lawn, a rather grand-looking, long table was set up, and large chairs were set all around it. Only three were occupied, though, by three creatures Ichigo identified as the Mad Hatter (by his top hat perched on top of his blonde head), the March Hare (obviously, by his appearance of a large rabbit, although he appeared more human-like, having a long, brown ponytail running down his back), and the small monkey the child had turned into, who was asleep, and being used as a pillow for the other two creature's elbows.

As she approached the table, the three creatures cried out,

"No room! No room!"

"There is _too_ room!" Ichigo protested, taking a seat next to the Hatter, "There is _plenty _of room!"

The inhabitants of the table paid no more attention to the matter.

"Tea?" the Hatter offered to Ichigo politely. Ichigo looked up to him to lock with his glittering, blue eyes. They seemed so familiar, yet…

"Tea?" the Hatter offered once again. Ichigo nodded,

"Yes, please, sir." She waited, then looked around the table, but there was no tea, except for the mugs of what Ichigo identified as coffee that the creatures were holding. She frowned,

"I don't see any tea."

"Then there isn't any." said the March Hare in a cheerful voice. Ichigo raised an eyebrow,

"Then it wasn't very polite to offer it, was it?"

"It wasn't very polite of you to sit down without being invited, was it?" the Hatter replied, taking a sip of his coffee. Ichigo remained silent, for she didn't have an immediate response to the cleverly rude reply. She soon came up with a retort, though,

"But it's way too big for just three people! You people wouldn't use the space!" The Hatter took another sip of coffee before replying,

"You have strange ears." Ichigo scowled and fidgeted with her dress while saying,

"Well you should learn not to make personal remarks like that." The Hatter simply shrugged and gazed off into the distance. Ichigo quickly interrupted his trance, though, with a question,

"Why is the monkey here?" The March Hare replied to her question, though, and the Mad Hatter continued to stare at her as he did,

"Because he does not require a chair at this table, and provides a nice cushion. If you would like, you would be less of a bother if you would please crawl up on the table and curl up into a ball, for you may also serve as a suitable pillow." He finished with a small, gentlemanly smile. Ichigo sniffed in protest,

"No thank you." The March Hare nodded,

"Alright, then, continue being a bother if you wish." The small monkey yawned and muttered in a child-like voice,

"All as well, na do da. I like laying here, na do da…" With that, it slumped its head back into its previous position and began to snore quietly.

"It has spoken…" The Hatter said quietly, breaking his stare-fest with Ichigo, "The arrogant girl shall stay." The March hair nodded in agreement, his brown rabbit ears bobbing up and down awkwardly. Ichigo scowled and crossed her arms, reaching for a pastry on a plate across the table on a platter, the only other item on the table besides the coffee mugs and monkey.

Before she could, though, the Hatter put a light slap to her hand,

"Now, now, don't you go reaching for the pastries! First, you must answer my riddle." Ichigo shot him a glare,

"And when did you learn such terrible manners as hitting a lady?" The Hatter just re-adjusted his top hat and said,

"Well?" Ichigo huffed and said,

"Fine. I'll play your stupid game." The Hatter smiled and said,

"Aright, for every riddle, you get a pastry. Simple enough for your small brain, child?" Ichigo nodded,

"Whatever. First question." The Hatter nodded,

"Hare, provide us with the first question, will you please?" The Hare nodded,

"Certainly. Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

Ichigo blinked,

"Could you please repeat that?"

_This is all a bunch of nonsense, _she thought. She eyed the cream-colored pastries sitting on the glass platter on the table ahead, a little detailed garnish imprinted on their soft cream. They were too delicious to resist, Ichigo decided, _I'd better go along with their idiotic questions anyway._

The March Hare repeated,

"Why is a raven like a writing desk?" Ichigo thought. Ichigo thought more. Ichigo thought even more. Ichigo still couldn't figure out the answer.

"I forfeit." she said sadly, "What is the answer?"

"There is no answer, unless you can think of one yourself." The March Hare said with a smile.

"No answer, na do da…" the monkey mumbled in its sleep. Ichigo made to stand up from her chair,

"Well what's the point in that if there's no answer?!" she said angrily. The Hatter shrugged,

"I don't know." He then took another sip of coffee. Ichigo gritted her teeth,

"Please ask another question…" The Hatter nodded,

"Fine." he took out a golden-colored pocket watch, and shaking it a bit, "What is today's date?" Ichigo sat down and thought for a moment before replying,

"The thirteenth."

"Wrong." he replied. He then dipped his watch in his coffee. Ichigo watched him in the act, noticing his watch was different,

"Oh, your watch tells the date of the month." The Hatter nodded,

"That's right. It seems to be off a bit…" He took the watch out of his pocket and examined it. After flicking it a couple times, he concluded,

"The correct answer was the thirteenth."

"But that's what I said." Ichigo stated. The Hatter raised an eyebrow,

"Yes, but you had it wrong before I fixed my watch. Now it is the thirteenth, but it was not so at the time of your answer."

"Why is it that you think you control time?" Ichigo said angrily. The March Hare interrupted,

"Time to shift seats, everyone to the left." Everyone but the confused Ichigo got up and moved seats. Ichigo stayed in her place, quite determined to defy their customs if necessary to gain respect.

"Move, girl." the Hatter commanded. Ichigo remained in her seat,

"No." The Hatter sighed,

"Impudent girl. Then, you may not have any pastries." Ichigo took one look from the pastries to the Hatter, and back to the pastries before making up her mind. She slid back her chair, got up, slid back the one to her left, and sat down in it with a rather large, unnecessary thump. She crossed her legs and folded her arms,

"What now?"

"Story, na do da…" the monkey mumbled sleepily. The March Hare perked up his rabbit ears to this proposal,

"Wonderful suggestion, Mr. Monkey. Would you care to tell us a story, little girl?"

"I am _not_ a little girl!" Ichigo retorted. The March Hare smiled politely,

"You're ignoring my question. Tell us a story, would you please?" Ichigo sighed,

"Fine. I'll try my best. So…um…"

"You can start now." the Hatter said. Ichigo frowned,

"Alright. So one day I had this strange dream. At the beginning, this kind of Godzilla-like monster destroying buildings in Tokyo…"

"What's Godzilla, na do da?" the monkey mumbled.

"It's kind of like a big, scary dinosaur." Ichigo said.

"What's a dinosaur, na do da?" the monkey asked. Ichigo ignored its ignorance and continued,

"…so I saw the monster and transformed into this cat girl heroine, with a frilly pink dress-"

"Why pink? It's an ugly color." the Hatter remarked. Ichigo turned up her nose,

"Is not! At any rate, so I transformed into this superhero-"

"Cat girl." the March Hare corrected. Ichigo sighed and continued,

"Cat girl. So when I was there, this big crowd of people came and started cheering for me-"

"Why would anyone cheer for you?" The Hatter said indifferently. Ichigo huffed a sigh,

_He's almost as bad as the smoking man._

"Look, do you want to hear the story or not?"

"Not really." Ichigo got up from the table,

"Then I guess I'll take my leave." She turned on her heel and walked away from the table of oddities. She was half-hoping that they would tell her to come back and sit down, because that would prove as some kind of indication of respect and interest, but alas, no such protest came.

_I certainly won't miss them,_ thought Ichigo, _They were so stupid and rude. Especially that hatter. I really loathe him…anyways, that was the stupidest tea party I've ever been to in my life._

She picked her way through her woods, wondering to herself what to do next, when she saw a stout, wooden door carved into one of the trees.

"Well that's strange…" she said to herself, "But I guess everything's strange today, so I might as well take a look inside." She walked over to the door and pulled on the metal handle, opening the door with a bit of force. She peered inside to see it led back to the circular room she started at. Looking around without stepping in, she noticed another little door on the opposite side of the room.

_I swear that wasn't there before…_ she said to herself as she stepped into the room. She pulled out a little bit of the mushroom she had left over and took a bite, shrinking herself back to a cat. She dashed over to where the little door was, twisted the handle with some difficulty, and stepped inside.

Her eyes met with a beautiful flower garden, wildflowers, trees and bushes alike adorning the landscape ahead. Brilliant shades of roses, lilacs, cherry blossoms, and all sorts of flowers were planted in neat rows and circles. Trees and bushes that were a rich, luscious green were abundant among the flowers, giving the massive garden more depth and shape, and providing shade for any creature who wished to rest in the beautiful atmosphere.

_It's so beautiful…_ Ichigo thought, sniffing the air full of the flowery scent, _Why, I could just drift off to sleep right here and now…_

However, as fate would allow, she didn't. Instead, she heard voices and dived into a nearby Japanese maple bush as she listened to the talk,

"Shh, B! You're making a whole lot of noise with those hedge trimmers!"

"I told you to stop calling me that, G! Call me by my proper name. Let's say it together…"

"B flat, yeah, yeah…I just don't see why you bother to lecture me about it. I mean, we've known each other for quite a while now!"

Ichigo peeped around the branches of the bush to examine the two people. She discovered they were not people, but they were more like very small pixies. They had little wings on their back, and they were wearing silly-looking hats. The strangest thing about them, though, was their ridiculously puffy skirts, which almost hid their legs entirely. They reminded her of…

_Now, what are they again? That's right, one is B flat, so they must be musical notes!_ Ichigo giggled to herself as she watched them buzz around a hedge. They looked so adorable, being only a foot tall each, she wanted to cuddle or hug one, in spite of herself.

"Oh come off it. Now, let's get to work on this hedge. I seem to recall she wanted it in the shape of a swan…"

"A swan? But I've already began the head of a stork!"

"Oh, here, you just have to clip the beak off a little like this- Oh my! I snipped the whole thing off!"

"Nice job."

"Oh! Hurry! Here comes the Queen!" The two little creatures skittered behind the sculpture they were trimming as what looked like a royal procession came into view.

Ichigo looked on with great interest at the people approaching. The first in the procession were two of what looked like royal guards, more pixie notes. These ones were only a bit taller, and still female, like the ones doing the hedge-trimming. They only looked a bit more serious, and were carrying tall, metal poles with sharpened ends. In reality, they didn't look too frightening anyway. Behind them was a very grand-looking young girl; Ichigo automatically assumed this was the Queen. She had two short locks of blue hair in front of her face, the rest tied in two buns behind her head. She wore a beautifully designed, regal gown and cape, both dark, indigo blue in color, with golden embroidery. A small, yet pretty tiara was placed lightly on her head, blue crystals embedded in the fine detail. She had stunning brown eyes, and long, dark lashes. She reminded Ichigo of someone, but who…

_No wonder she is royalty, she is certainly pretty and grand enough to be so,_

Ichigo thought as she gazed at the queen as she came, more guards coming up behind her.

Suddenly, she stopped and turned to where the two gardeners were hiding,

"Step out, cowards." she spoke sharply. The two creatures came out from behind the hedge timidly, wringing their hands,

"Um, You Majesty, we were just-"

"What did you do to that hedge?! And speaking to your Queen without permission?! Off with her head!" she called to a nearby guard.

_How gruesome!_ thought Ichigo, _I've got to do something to help!_ Without giving it much thought, she jumped out from behind the bush and latched her claws onto the Queen's dress. This caused mass chaos as the Queen screeched,

"EEK! GET IT OFF!" she ran around in circles, flapping her arms around wildly while the guards bustled around Ichigo and tried to pry her off the Queen's dress. The small creatures took this as their cue to get going, so they did, scampering frantically elsewhere while all of the guards were occupied.

Surprisingly to both Ichigo and all of the people trying to dispose of her, she was holding on longer than she would have expected she could. When she saw the two creatures make a run for it, she did also. Unlatching herself from the Queen's dress, she dashed into some nearby trees, the Queen bellowing orders,

"Get that cat! Don't let it escape!"

Dashing frantically, Ichigo saw that the guards were really gaining. She dashed behind some trees and took out some pieces of the mushroom she had attached to the bow on her tail earlier. Taking a small bite of the one to make you grow, she began to feel herself growing taller and taller, her paws shrinking back into human hands. Checking herself over, she took a bite of the one to make you smaller, just to make sure she didn't make the wrong impression when she was a foot taller than everyone else. She peered out from behind the tree to see that the guards were still looking for her cat form, peering under bushes and up trees, calling,

"Here, kitty kitty!"

It made her giggle a bit; they just looked so funny!

Ichigo felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to come face-to-face with the Queen. She looked Ichigo up and down, making a face when her eyes rested on her ears,

"Where did you get those black things attached to your head?" Ichigo bit her lip,

"I've had them for a while now, I can't remember where I got them exactly…"

"Dispose of them." the Queen said casually. Ichigo frowned,

"I'm sorry, I can't do that. They're attached to my head." This time, it was the Queen's turn to frown,

"Did I just hear you defy me?!"

"Yes." Ichigo said stoutly. Quite frankly, this regal, stuck-up snob-of-a-queen didn't scare her all too much, nor did her girly, pixie-winged servants. Feeling she was defeated, the Queen turned on her heel with a huff. She was about to walk off when she stopped. Ichigo looked at her curiously as she spoke,

"Do you participate in many hunting games?"

"Like what?" Ichigo said.

_Sure I have. Saving the world and all…_

"Like…" the Queen flourished her hand elegantly, "English-style. Riding a horse, chasing live prey."

"No, Your Majesty, but I've done similar hunting before-"

"Good! E minor, suit her with a horse!" A nearby guard saluted,

"Yes, Your Highness!" With that, she dragged Ichigo rather harshly by the wrist off across the garden. Ichigo found herself tripping over various rocks and roots (herself being a klutz); she just wasn't able to keep with the guard's pace.

"Could you slow down, please?" she called to the incredibly strong pixie-like guard. The guard just remained silent, turned her head, made a face, and went back to the path. Ichigo scowled,

_Foul little creature._

Too soon, the two had made their way to what appeared to be the stables, where several other people were loading onto their horses. The guard dragged Ichigo to a huge, Clydesdale horse, its head arching a towering nine feet tall. Of course, to the small creatures and Ichigo, it appeared about nineteen feet tall. Ichigo whimpered a bit as the guard rolled her eyes,

"Come on, I'll push you up." Before Ichigo could even respond with a 'What?', she had been picked up and flung onto the horse like some kind of baggage, landing awkwardly on its back and clinging to its mane for dear life.

Ichigo hoisted herself up, still shaken, and gripped onto the horses side. The horse seemed to have no protest to any of this action, and just sat there, idly blinking and staring into space. She buckled herself into the oversized saddle, and stared down at the pack hanging at her side. She looked up to ask the guard what was in it, but the guard had deserted her completely. Peering into it, she took out what seemed to be some kind of bow, and a large pack of arrows stored in the same place. She had never shot a bow in her life, except for maybe that nature camp she went to two years ago.

_This will be difficult. _She said to herself as she shot a dry arrow, oblivious to the fact that it damages the bow.

More people came over to the stable over the next few minutes, all of them finding a horse and either being hosted on (not as harshly as Ichigo was), or hopping, flying, or getting themselves on in their own manner. Gradually, the whole stable was filled with people mounted on horses.

Ichigo gripped the saddle with sweaty palms. The Queen trotted to the front of the stable on her horse and addressed the mounted crowd,

"Now, what we will be hunting is these." She pulled out a small, jellyfish-like object that floated around in the air. Ichigo racked her memory to figure out where she had seen it, but nothing came to mind. The queen continued, "These little things will be scattered throughout the woods to your right, there are about six dozen in all. The goal is simply to collect them by shooting them down with the bows provided from your horse, and store them in your packs. Whoever has the most by the time I give the signal, wins. Am I clear?" The little creatures nodded their heads or remained silent. One small, bird-like creature raised its hand,

"Um, Your Majesty, how will we know when we are finished?" Ichigo happened to be wondering the same question,

_How will we know?_

The queen's face twisted into a scowl,

"Do I hear you doubting my abilities to summon you all? Are you questioning my authority over my own royal authority?!" The now-timid creature waved its wings frantically,

"No, no, Your Highness! I didn't-"

"Are you saying I'm _wrong_?! Off with his head!" Some nearby guards dragged the squealing creature off the horse and to the main paths of the garden. Ichigo bit her lip and hung her head.

_How cruel…_

The Queen stuck up her nose and continued,

"Anyways, as I was saying before I was cruelly interrupted…" she paused and looked around at the people before her, "Begin."

--

-To be Continued-


	3. What Goes Around, Comes Around

(A.N./ And here we are with the last part! As always, it was such a pleasure to write this, and I hope you had as much pleasure reading! I strayed pretty far from the original story in this part, but kept with the characters. I always thought the Queen never got the whooping she deserved...oops! Spoilers! XP

Anyways, I hope no one is too disappointed that the Mock Turtle and Gryffin don't appear here. I ran out of characters, and the chain of events that happens is too closely lined that I couldn't really insert another scene, or squeeze characters in. Again, I'm really sorry I had to take them out! Now, enough rambling, read!)

--

"Anyways, as I was saying before I was cruelly interrupted…" she paused and looked around at the people before her, "Begin."

Immediately half of the horses charged out of the stables in a mad stampede, barely missing the lucky heads of any guards who were in the way. The Queen, mounted on the best-looking and smallest horse, charged off with the crowd, demanding the head be chopped off anyone who got in her way.

Ichigo looked curiously down at her horse and wondered how to take off. She looked next to her and watched how the other people would do it. A few of them were looking around, confused, and just as inexperienced as Ichigo was. After a few seconds of observing, though, Ichigo collected that most of them would give their horses a short, hard slap on the rump and it would start trotting. Ichigo looked to her horse, who was still staring into oblivion. She turned, and, like she saw, slapped the horse where necessary.

Well, apparently, she had slapped it a bit too hard, for it started off with a loud whinny and broke into a full gallop. Ichigo clutched the mane of the horse for dear life, paying no heed to reins as she made a desperate attempt to steer. The horse seemed to not hear, feel, or pay any attention to Ichigo at all, really, for it continued to run, following the other horses and beyond. It kept up its gallop into a deserted part of the specified woods, where no other contestants in the hunting party was or had been.

There, it slowed to a trot, then stopped completely. Ichigo looked around at the scenery, and noticed a small, blue object floating a little ways off. She urged the horse on, slapping its hind and yelling to it, but it wouldn't budge or make any kind of noise or motion. Frustrated, Ichigo half-dismounted, half-fell off the horse. She got off the horse and wiped the dirt and grime off herself.

She pulled out the bow and arrow from her pack and wandered closer to where she saw the jellyfish thing. Mounting an arrow on the bow, she took aim and fired. Miss. The little blue blob just floated on by, much farther from where the arrow had landed. Ichigo growled in frustration,

"I'd be better off using my bare hands." she said to herself. Much to her surprise, she got a reply,

"That you would."

She turned to see, once again, the Cheshire cat, seated on a limb of a tree, wearing that smirk she hated. She frowned,

"What are you doing here?" The cat raised an eyebrow,

"I thought we were friends." Ichigo shook her head,

"I don't know. You kind of freak me out, and you give me bad vibes. Besides, that would make it two times in one day that you've proved yourself as a stalker." The Cheshire cat's smirk grew into a grin,

"Is that so? Hm, too bad." With that, he retracted from is casual position, stretched like a genuine cat, spreading his paws out before him and yawning. He got up from the tree and jumped down in front of Ichigo. Directing his attention to the jelly thing, he extended a paw and made a quick motion. The jelly thing floated over to him and rested in his paw. Ichigo stared with wide eyes,

"H-how did you do that?!" The Cheshire cat wore his smirk once more,

"Oh, it seems these things took a liking to me a while ago." he paused, twirling the little jellyfish thing in his paw before looking to Ichigo,

"Watch this."

He walked over to the huge horse and lifted a paw to it, like he summoned the jellyfish. A small ripple of air extended from his paw, and the horse slumped down in a sitting position, motionless. Ichigo gasped,

"D-did you just…_kill it?!"_ The cat shrugged,

"Sort of. Don't worry, I'll put its soul back in an hour or so." Ichigo blinked,

"It's…_soul?!"_ She looked with terrified, wide eyes to the Cheshire cat, "Okay, now I'm _really_ scared of you!" The cat just grinned,

"Just watch, okay? It's not going to hurt anyone…maybe."

"What is…?" Ichigo said quietly, wringing her hands. The Cheshire cat took the light pink object that he had just pulled from the horse and molded it into the jellyfish thing. Tossing it lightly in the air, both objects morphed and swirled together until a completely new object stood before them.

It was a huge, monster-like horse creature, at least a dozen feet tall. Its massive body structure was built tough and durable, and its hooves looked like they could crush steel. It snorted through huge, dinner-plate sized nostrils, and squinted through bright, blazing red eyes. Ichigo screeched and held her face,

"Wh-what is it?! Make it go away!" The cat nodded to it,

"Like I said, it's not going to hurt you unless I tell it to. I figured the Queen needs a little straightening up, wouldn't you say?" Ichigo looked at him with huge eyes,

"Y-y-you're n-not going to…k-kill-"

"No, no, no." the Cheshire cat said, grinning, "I'm not that bad. Just straighten her up, you know? I mean, we can't have those innocent people she has locked up beheaded, now can we, kitten?" Ichigo massaged her head lightly and nodded,

"I-I guess you're right. I…" she looked at him once more and frowned, "I don't know why, but I have a hard time trusting you." He shrugged,

"I wouldn't blame you. I mean, I just made a giant monster appear in thin air, you mistook me for a stalker, and then there's that whole _parasite_ deal…"

Something clicked in Ichigo's mind.

"What did you just say?" she asked, turning to him. He blinked,

"What?" Ichigo furrowed her brow and shook her head,

"Oh, nothing. Now, what exactly are we going to do?"

The Cheshire cat grinned mischievously,

"Like I said, we're just going to give the Queen a light scare…"

--

"EEK! Guards! Guards! Kill it! KILL IT!"

The Queen yelled and shrieked as she galloped away from the huge monster that was pursuing her, its huge hooves practically shaking the ground in a tremor. The guards fired arrows and spears into the massive monster, but they just bounced off like toothpicks to metal.

Meanwhile, Ichigo was clinging for dear life to one of the ears of the huge animal,

"Why couldn't we get a saddle or something?!" she yelled in desperation. She clung to the huge ear like she would be flung off into oblivion if she let go, because she most likely would, too. The Cheshire cat sat, claws locked into the animals skull, steering it and giving orders. He turned to Ichigo, grinning in excitement,

"If you'd like, you can hold onto me like you're holding onto that ear, instead!" Ichigo stuck out her tongue,

"Yeah, right!" The Cheshire cat made a fake pout and turned back to steering the horse. Ichigo furrowed her brow as she thought,

_This was a really stupid idea. But I've got to get all of those poor, innocent people out of the Queen's grasp! I'm saving innocent lives, so I guess that makes up for scaring the guts out of the Queen and her servants. _

The Cheshire cat went over to the horse's other ear and yelled something in it. He then got down on its snout and the horse ducked its head to almost ground level. He leaned his head forward, calling out to the Queen on her horse in front of them,

"If you release all of your innocent prisoners, I'll call off my pet!" The Queen turned with an angry scowl,

"Never! GUARDS! Shoot that cat down!" The Cheshire cat soon found himself weaving in and out through volleys of arrows, climbing back up to the top of the horse. He shielded himself behind one of the ears and gritted his teeth,

"She's a stubborn one all right. Ah, well, we'll have to play this the hard way then." He turned to Ichigo, who's arms were becoming quite numb from the bumpy ride,

"Prepare yourself, this might get rough." She nodded and gripped tighter to the ear she was holding to. He yelled something into the horse's ear, and they began going faster and faster. Ichigo let out a small yelp and shut her eyes, focusing her strength on holding on. She soon felt the horse stop suddenly, and lost her grip. She screamed and opened her eyes, but felt herself being hosted back up onto the horse by her wrist.

"Keep low and don't make a sound." the Cheshire cat said in a hushed tone. Ichigo nodded, massaging her wrist. The cat walked down the now-lowered head of the horse, motioning to the guards to hold fire. He walked down casually, slowly towards where the Queen was pilled down by the horses hoof. Arriving next to her, he stood over her and looked down to her sternly,

"So? What's your answer? I can dispose of your guards, if you'd like; that may give you more time to decide."

The Queen scowled horribly in defeat,

"Alright. Fine. You win." The Cheshire cat grinned,

"Good choice. Now, give the orders, will you please?" The Queen frowned,

"First, release me."

"No." the cat said smugly. The Queen growled,

"Guards, free all of the prisoners in the cells." the cat shook his head,

"Try again."

Ichigo had never seen anyone so angry in her life. The queen growled even lower, glaring into the Cheshire cat's eyes the entire time,

"Guards, release all of the prisoners in the cells and on labor force."

"That's better." the Cheshire cat said cheerfully.

He got up from his position staring down at the Queen and casually, slowly made his way back up the neck of the horse, sending smug looks to all of relieved guards that were filing their way out of the forest and to their forced duties. Ichigo stared in awe from the cat to the Queen, and back to the cat.

Ah, the powers of negotiation.

The Cheshire cat muttered something into the ear of the horse, and it released the queen from its hoof. The Queen got up and lifted her mud-stained skirts to walk, accompanied by the few mingling guards left to escort her, her horse having fled quite some time ago. Ichigo giggled and stepped out from behind the ear of the horse,

"Wow, you really showed her! I'm so glad that all of those people are alright!" The Cheshire cat nodded,

"Yeah, that was pretty fun!" Ichigo scowled and looked at him,

"You only did it for _fun?!_ What fun do you have in terrifying people?!" The cat snickered,

"You should try it sometime, kitten."

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Ichigo yelled rather loudly. The Cheshire cat just laughed,

"You get so angry so easily!" He recovered from laughing and was left with a grin,

"Well, I'd better be on my way."

He stepped off the head of the horse, its head lowering automatically when he stepped onto it. He offered Ichigo a hand as she came down, but she turned a nose at him and kept walking by herself, earning herself a nice trip over the horse's nose and onto the ground. She got up and felt her knee,

"Ow…"

The Cheshire cat giggled lightly. Ichigo scowled and shot him a glare,

"You just find amusement in the worst things, don't you?!" He nodded slightly, wearing his smirk,

"I guess you could say that." He walked over to the horse and waved a paw in front of it, the jellyfish and light pink orb separating into two once more after the animal had shrunk. He took the blue thing and handed the pink orb to Ichigo,

"Could you return this to the horse you were riding? I believe it belongs to him." Ichigo nodded timidly and took the object. The Cheshire cat saw her fear and added,

"The horse isn't dead, that's its soul your holding. It won't feel any pain, and it won't remember that affair." Ichigo nodded again, turning over the object in her hands. She looked up to say something, but the cat was gone. She frowned and shook her head,

"I don't know why, but he just scares me, in more ways than one…"

She traveled along the beaten path, backtracking from where the horse had come from. They had traveled quite a distance through the woods. The trees loomed eerily overhead, their thick leaves and branches shielding her from any sunlight trying to reach through. The clean, fresh smell of the forest filled her nostrils, and the crunch of leaves under her feet was comforting to her senses. But, it was just too quiet. She shuddered at the thought of what kind of creatures lurk wild in the land. After all, an apparently average (sort of) human-cat like herself had just conjured up the kind of monster in children's fairy tales. Anything at all could come out from behind a bush or tree.

Growing paranoid over time, Ichigo began to wish she was back home.

_I've had enough of this strange land. I'm ready to go home…_

Just then, after about ten minutes of walking, she rounded a corner to see the body of the horse. She crept up to it timidly and placed the pink, crystal-like object into it. It sunk in naturally, like the horse was welcoming it back in. She got up and watched the horse slowly arouse. It stood up on its feet and whinnied softly. Ichigo stroked its smooth mane gingerly.

_It's so gentle…_ she thought. She lifted her hand and grabbed the reigns and saddle as to hoist herself up.

But then, she felt something, or someone, pull her back, and a sharp blow to her head.

Then, darkness.

--

Ichigo blinked open her eyes, light flooding in them as she held her hand in front of her face. Her head hurt terribly. But the pain reminded her of what had just occurred, and the memories all rushed back to her.

"Order! Order in the court!"

She sat up in what she found was a wooden chair, seated behind…

A wooden box of sorts?

"Masaya, read the accusation!" She straightened up and leaned over to get a good look at him. There he stood, with his adorable ears and tail. Ichigo blushed and continued to stare. His dark hair, tanned skin…everything about him was perfect. She sighed deeply, but then snapped back to her thoughts when his words, in that sweet voice of his flooded to her ears,

"Here sits Miss Cheshire Cat, committer of assistance of threatening and injuring the Queen," The Queen held up a lightly scratched leg for emphasis, "…leaving the hunt _without permission _to commit crimes, and forcing the release of all of the sentenced criminals."

"They weren't criminals!" Ichigo cut in, standing up from her chair, "And I didn't do anything!"

"Silence!" roared the Queen, "Speech without permission in the court alone is forbidden! Off with her head!"

"Wait!" Ichigo yelled, "I honestly didn't do anything! The Cheshire cat did!" Masaya looked at her with blank eyes,

"But you're the Cheshire cat, Miss." Ichigo shook her head,

"No, a cat that wasn't me! The other Cheshire cat, I had nothing to do with this!" Ichigo was beginning to panic. The Queen had her turn to speak,

"Well, tell us then, what was his name?" Ichigo froze dead where she was, her eyes widening. She racked her brain to try and think of some kind of clue,

_His name, his name…I never heard his name!_

She turned her head slowly up to them,

"I-I don't know."

"Well then," the Queen said stoutly, turning her nose to the air, "All charges shall remain until we find the ringleader. Off with her head!" Ichigo shook her head,

"No, wait! That's entirely unfair! I didn't do anything, really! It was the other cat, you saw him yourself!" The Queen scowled,

"You still have a lack of intelligence when it comes to court, speaking so harshly without permission, bursting in like you do! You still deserve your head to be removed." A shout was heard from the back of the courtroom,

"I second what the accused says."

Ichigo scanned the crowed and saw a single man stand up.

None other than the mad hatter.

The Queen's scowl was curled deeper,

"There were no witnesses to the event, now take a seat!" The Mad Hatter, however, made no move to sit down. He stood straight and tall,

"From what it sounds like, there _was_ a definite witness. You!"

The people of the court gasped as the Queen stood up, slamming her golden scepter on the marble floors,

"You cannot prove I was there!" The Mad Hatter's shoulders sunk a bit, and he lost the ambition in his eyes. Ichigo looked from him, to the queen, and back to him.

_He's…defending me?_

She spoke,

"There are more witnesses!" she motioned to some nearby guards, "I know at least one of you was there by the Queen's side! Did you see me there?" The guards looked at each other with nervous glances, and tried to avoid eye contact with any prying eyes. Ichigo huffed in frustration,

"This court is terrible! This land is terrible! No one understands me here, no one! No one will listen, no one causes me any sort of lasting _good_ here!"

"Guards!" the Queen yelled, "She's snapped! Have her beheaded at once! That will silence her misery!" Ichigo's screams were drowned out by the excited buzzing of guards crowding her and dragging her away. She fought with anything, her head, fists, and legs, but they had a tight hold on her. She tossed and turned…

"_Ichigo!"_ She hesitated, and closed her eyes.

"Ichigo!"

She snapped her eyes open to be staring into a sea of aquamarine blue. Ryou's eyes. She backed off from Ryou, who was too close for comfort,

"R-r-ryou?! W-what-"

"You were sleeping on the job, huh?" he said grouchily, "The lost hours of work will be made up with extra hours tomorrow." Ichigo screeched in protest,

"That is SO un-WHA-!" As she was getting up from her chair, she stepped forward and had slipped on the puddle she left on the floor from the spilt mop bucket. She rubbed her back and muttered,

"Ow…" Ryou let a small snicker and walked off, muttering,

"Baka Strawberry."

Ichigo stared after him, but made no move to get up from the place where she was, sitting in the puddle, letting her uniform soak up the mop water. She rubbed her eyes,

"What a strange dream…"

She glanced up at the clock on the wall in the kitchen behind her. She nearly screamed,

"Six-thirty?! My parents will kill me!" she got up in a skittering run, only to trip in the water again, landing on her backside. She growled and fell down, face up in the water. She just sat there idly for a moment, staring into space. Finally, she muttered a small statement under her breath.

"Ryou…you heartless slave driver…"

--

(A.N./ And that's it! Hope you enjoyed!)


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